Licenses and Certification

Contact: Controller's Office, (205) 996-1277

Individual Professional Licenses

UAB may pay a UAB employee's annual professional license fee with documentation that all three of the following conditions are met:

• there is a legitimate UAB business purpose for the expenditure;
• the official UAB job description maintained by UAB Humans Resources Management requires that individuals holding that UAB job classification maintain that specific type of professional license; and
• the official practice of that major UAB unit (school, Hospital, or executive level) is to pay that annual professional license for all individuals in that major unit in that official UAB job classification

However, if all three of these conditions are not met, then the cost must be treated as a personal expense.

Each major unit of UAB (school, Hospital, or executive level) should review their professional license policy annually, and contact the Controller's Office to request changes. Upon approval of each revised policy, the Executive Director of Accounting will notify the fiscal officer and update the official list of approved individual professional licenses on the web.

Read a complete list of approved licenses.

Professional licenses should be charged to Oracle Object Code 8705031 "Licenses."

Individual Intern/Resident Professional Licenses

In those instances where a UAB Intern/Resident (Assignment Category 07) requires a professional license beyond the basic license to practice or perform services requires as part of their official training program, UAB may pay both the initial and annual professional license fee provided that the official practice of the school/unit providing the training program is to pay the fee for all Interns or Residents in that training program.

Licensure Exams

Even though UAB will fund the cost of maintaining a professional license once the minimum qualification is met (but only under the conditions stated above), an employee's costs of becoming certified are treated as personal expenses; that is, UAB will not pay the costs of preparing for a licensing certification exam, the exam fee itself, travel associated with taking the exam, etc.

UAB Business Licenses

Because UAB is a governmental entity of the State of Alabama, it is exempt from the business license requirements of the City of Birmingham, Jefferson County, and the State of Alabama. This applies to any revenue-generating activity of any organizational unit of UAB, but only if those revenues are appropriately included in UAB's audited financial statements as UAB revenues. Therefore, business license fees should not be paid by UAB.